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Help us build a better SFS + everything going on in August + early Fall!

August 12, 2025

Hello Hello Hello!

There’s not yet that Autumn chill in the air, but if you squint, you can see the outline of a Pumpkin Spice Latte looming just over the horizon. The biggest blockbusters have come and gone (Avatar: Fire and Ash notwithstanding). Fall Film Festivals are setting their slates and we’re starting to get a clearer picture of 2025 Oscar Season. As we creep past the halfway mark, you might even be seeing some write ups on the up (Sinners!) and down (AI! Anything Tr*mp!) year it’s been thus far. August is a month of transition and reflection in that way.

The same is true here at SFS. We’re coming up on our 2 year anniversary(!) and as we start to turn an eye toward the future, we’d like to hear from you. What do you want to see from us? What sorts of events and things are you interested in SFS doing? Where would you like to see SFS go as an organization?

We’ve put together a short survey that can be filled out below. If you have a sec, we would sincerely appreciate you sharing your thoughts with us.

Let’s dig in.

Marcus Baker

SFS Creative Director

SCREENINGS

Tuesday August 19th @ SOAP | Doors at 6:30pm

Open Screen returns this month! Need feedback on your latest cinematic masterpiece? Want to share some embarrassing home videos? Searching for a place where strangers will watch videos of your dog on the big screen? Come on out! 

Bring your film or video on a thumb drive, anything under 10 minutes goes up! Films screen on a first-come first-screen basis, so be sure to arrive early!

Thursday, August 28th @ NW Film Forum | Doors at 6:30pm

Our August Locals Only is all about endings. Four shorts by four of the region’s up-and-coming filmmakers take us through a variety of endings and what they all can mean:

  • Hazel & The Sound by August Detering

  • The Graves by Colin Simpson

  • Molehill by Eliott Glasser

  • Elder Transcending by Tyrone Purchase

All four filmmakers will be on hand for the screening and will take part in a Q&A! Grab a pal and come check out some of the great local flicks.

Doors at 6:30PM, screening from 7:00PM to 8:30PM. Afters to follow!

Thursday, September 4th @ NW Film Forum | Doors at 6:30pm

Our monthly doc screening with SeaDoc and the Northwest Film Forum continues with the essential and locally-made Sweetheart Deal. Described by none other than Sean Baker as “heartbreaking and vital”, the film follows four sex workers caught in caught in the spiral of addiction who turn to a self-proclaimed healer offering friendship and a path to salvation on the streets of Seattle. But just as they begin to rebuild their lives, a shocking betrayal comes to light that will change them all.

Doors at 6:30PM, screening starts at 7:00PM.

EDUCATION

Wednesdays | SFS Discord @ 7pm

Our August Film Discussion series will cover two originals by the legendary Akira Kurosawa and two notable remakes of his work. We’ll round out the series with a field trip to see the newest remake, Spike Lee’s High and Low adaption Highest 2 Lowest. The four films covered include:

  • Wed. August 6th | Seven Samurai (1954)

  • Wed. August 13th | The Magnificent Seven (1960)

  • Wed. August 20th | High and Low (1963)

  • Wed. August 27th | Highest 2 Lowest (2025) - Field Trip! (details TBD)

Wednesday nights, 7pm-8:30p. All meetings (with the exception of the last one) will take place on the Seattle Film Society Discord server.

1st + 3rd Tuesdays | SFS Discord @ 7:30pm

Our Screenwriting Group continues! Meetings are bi-weekly on our Discord channel and we are always looking for new submissions! Scripts can be submitted through our website.

SELECTED EVENTS

ALUMNI NEWS

Osiris Chacona | September ‘24 Locals Only (LO #10)

Osiris continues to churn out new shorts ahead of attending NYU’s Tisch Film School in the fall. His newest short, Entropy, is available via his Youtube channel here.

Ty Huffer | October ‘24 Locals Only (LO #11)

Ty recently signed a development deal with Screamify to develop his first feature length film. The film is slated to be released in 2026.

Nathan Abia Lawer-Yolar | January ‘25 Locals Only (LO #13)

Nathan’s non-profit Arrived Collective recently celebrated another successful edition of their At the Garden Art Exhibition & Film Festival this past July. The event featured screenings, panels, exhibitions, and a closing night dance party.

Andrew “Ducky” Dutkiewicz | March ‘25 Locals Only (LO #15)

Following the success of his short films Everything Happens and Hatman, Andrew is launching crowdfunding for his next short film, Call This Land Mother. The film follows an Irish immigrant recalling his first summer in America, and the girl who could speak to his dead mother. You can support the project here.

Ashley George | May ‘25 Locals Only (LO #17)

Ashley’s film Volition, which screened at Locals Only this past May, is now available to watch online via Film Shortage. The film was selected as one of their monthly Best Picks.

THE BUSINESS OF FILM

The road show model has been making a significant comeback with filmmakers hoping to do more with their film than just plop it on to an anonymous, disengaged buffet of streaming services. This includes Mirror Box Films, the clients of Seattle-based marketing firm Smarthouse Creative. Mirror Box recently finished a two month, 12-city tour of their feature film Guacamole Yesterdays. Here’s what they were aiming to achieve:

Our goals aligned around:

Building a deeper connection with audiences through Q&As and in-person conversations.

Inspiring word-of-mouth buzz around the film through leaving reviews, posting on social media, and telling friends.

Creating an event-ized experience that encouraged people to watch the film in theaters (where it’s meant to be seen), including an opening comedy act and a post-screening Q&A with the filmmakers.

Testing out a more sustainable revenue model for indie film releases, introducing revenue from ticket and merch sales.

And while the goal was to see a profit from the tour (or at least break-even), we ultimately were treating it as a marketing expense. We’d much rather drop a couple of grand on a unique, memorable experience for audiences than put that towards META ads.

Read their full write up of their experience including why they did it, what they learned, what they’d change if they did it again, and so much more.

RESOURCES + TOOLS

Local Resource | Koerner Camera

Koerner Camera is a cinema camera rental house with locations in Seattle and Portland. They have been in business for over 25 years and offer an extensive inventory of high end production equipment. This includes the most widely used cameras such as ARRI Alexa, Sony Venice, RED V-Raptor, as well as lenses from Cook, Angenieux, Zeiss, and more. They strive to provide unparalleled customer service backed by knowledgeable staff who maintain an intricate knowledge of the equipment.  

Online Resource | Films Gone Wild

Films Gone Wild is a website that provides discovery-focused film and film festival reviews. They provide in-depth, thoughtful coverage of the regional film festival circuit and strive to highlight the discovery and community aspects of these fests. This goes hand in hand with their film coverage, which seeks to find and promote up-and-coming film artists that are developing their craft and putting stories on screen in new ways.

Free Tool | Script Slug

Script Slug posts screenplays of professionally produced films and series. Their goal is to provide education and inspiration for screenwriters and researchers. They include a diverse range of scripts, and they accept requests and suggestions.

SFS STAFF RECS

This month, we’ve got a Staff Rec from SFS Marketing Director Quentin Lebeau

TV Show: 100 Foot Wave

In search of a Summer show, I recently watched 100 FOOT WAVE, an HBO Documentary series, that follows Garrett McNamara, amongst other surfers, on his quest to surf the titular, “100 Foot Wave”. I’m not a big surfer myself, but with the sun shining very bright, and my apartment feeling very hot, I was hoping to capture some of the show’s ocean breeze in my living room.

Directed by AMERICAN MOVIE director, Chris Smith, the series locates a central conflict that was smarter and more intersting than I had originally hoped: the “100 Foot Wave” might not actually exist! Yet, all the same, McNamara still pursues it, and dedicates his life to this (potentially) unreal thing. The show frames McNamara like a tortured artist or a Sasquatch hunter, in search of this wave. He leaves his idilic life in Hawaii behind, abandons his family, betrays his friends all in pursuit of his idea of surfing “perfection”.

All in all, apart from the story of a man possessed, this was a great Summer show — fun surfing sequences, incredible ocean photography and the pursuit of the “big one”. I would highly recommend it!

Thanks for reading! See you next month :) 

Got questions, suggestions, or news? We’d love to hear from you! Drop us a line at [email protected]

Don’t forget, we’re a volunteer-run project under the fiscal sponsorship of a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization (Shun Pike) so you can always: